Interfaith event brings together leaders from different faiths

Audrie Palmer

Published 7:01 am, Thursday, April 11, 2013

Several religious leaders will gather Wednesday for the third annual Permian Basin Interfaith Event.

The conference will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church, 4000 W. Loop 250 North. Six speakers of various faiths will participate in the event and share wisdom based on their own beliefs.

The following speakers will talk and answer questions: the Rev. Randel Everett of First Baptist Church in Midland; Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami of Kauai's Hindu Monastery; Rabbi Holly Levin Cohn of Temple Beth El in Odessa; Imam Wazir Ali from Houston's Masjid Warithud-Deen Mohammed, Masjid Al-Quran and Masjid Abu Bakr; the Rev. Sam B. Hulsey, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas; and Jerry Zant, stake president of the Odessa Texas Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Russell Meyers, CEO and president of Midland Memorial Hospital, will moderate the event.

Darryl Knapp, lay ministry coordinator at St. Nicholas, said the interfaith dialog is a chance for those in the community to "discuss contemporary issues" and how their faiths "allow them to understand and confront present day matters."

Veylanswami, who is visiting Texas from the Hindu monastery in Hawaii, said he believes the event is important to help increase West Texans' understanding about religions.

"We look at it two-fold: Hindus tend to underestimate differences in religions and this gives us a good chance to compare the Hindu standpoint with other religions," he said.

"There's little knowlege and we're increasing the understanding of Hindu persepctive on important issues."

Veylanswami said he was invited by different churches throughout Texas to come and talk during the month of April and spoke via telephone from his hotel in San Antonio on Wednesday.

The speakers will each be sharing their viewpoints and answering five questions that were submitted for the conversation before conducting a question and answer session with the audience. Those five questions deal with homosexuality, resurrection, God authorizing mankind on how to act, how people can serve their neighbors and being supportive of a pluralistic society.

Veylanswami said he's prepared three-minute answers for each of the questions from a Hindu viewpoint. He's attended the two previous interfaith conferences in Midland and said there is a combination of curiousity, genuine interest and understanding among West Texans.

"With more Hindus moving here and becoming a more visible element in the community, we naturally desire to have a better understanding of the religion and culture," he said.

Over the years, Hindus moved to Texas initially to work in the medical fields but now a higher percentage are also moving to the Lone Star State for IT work, Veylanswami said.

With the Apple Company expanding a large presence in Austin, the Hindu population in that area is growing accordingly, he said.

"I think it's important (to have this event) because there's a lot of misconceptions about Hinduism and it comes from not really interacting very much with Hindus. You interact with them while growing up or in the workplace, but many haven't had that much opportunity in Texas," he said.

"This creates greater tolerance and greater harmony in the community with these kinds of gatherings."

For more information about the Permian Basin's Third Interfaith Event, contact St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church at 694-8856.